I just love learning all about Eve from the Old Testament. For the Come Follow Christ study this current week, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are studying the Fall of Adam and Eve. I prefer to call the Fall “the Leap.” That’s because it was a leap of faith/knowledge on Adam and Eve’s part. They were not being sucked blind into deceit by the enemy. This leap of faith was to partake of the “forbidden fruit.” That act changed their life from being immortal to mortal, so that they could then have children and start the chain of the human race being born.

Eve gets such a bad rap! The mainstream Christian culture thinks of her as being duped and dumb. She is despised and shamed for bringing about fallen life. This shaming is interwoven in Western Christian culture such to the point of causing some men to look down on women and treat them scornfully. The subconsciously have inherited this incorrect belief that Eve is responsible for the mortal mess of a world we live in. But guess what? Eve is to be celebrated, not scorned or shamed.

I firmly believe that Eve studied her situation and talked to God about what was going on. After all, in the Garden of Eden she and Adam could walk and talk with God. Then she decided that her best choice was to eat the fruit. She knew as a consequence of this she would die, meaning leave God’s presence in the Garden of Eden, and eventually physically die. On the other hand, she knew that by partaking of the fruit, she would be able to have children and move the plan of salvation forward, in other words, have joy, and receive knowledge of good and evil, so that she could ultimately choose to act righteously and receive all that the Father has to give her and Adam.

First, go here if you haven’t already and read my Part I about Eve. In that post, you will read the truths about why Adam and Eve couldn’t have children while in the Garden of Eden. You will also learn about two words in the Genesis account of the Eve/Adam and the forbidden fruit story. The Hebrew meanings behind these two words, command, and beguile, show that Eve was not duped by satan. By contrast, she was an agent who acted in the best way for all humans.

Then this video below features Jared Lambert, who is completing a PhD in linguistics. He has seven degrees and speaks eight languages. This video is so amazing! If you don’t watch this, you will be missing out on crucial knowledge about Eve and Adam! It will blow your socks off and open your mind! Please watch it! The video harmonizes with what Sister Campbell says. Brother Lambert says the word “beguile” comes from a proto-Hebrew word that comes from an accounting term that basically means weighing the pros and cons of the choices. Weighing all your choices can definitely cause one to have an “intense multilevel experience which evokes great emotional, psychological and/or spiritual trauma.” That’s the meaning of “beguile” in the words of the Hebrew scholar who Sister Campbell quotes in her book, Eve and the Choice Made in Eden, mentioned in my Part I, over here.

So that’s one concept to put Eve in a positive light. Ready for more? Here we go:

In the video below, Jared Lambert also explains that in the Hebrew language that Genesis was translated from, the words that “helpmeet” comes from is “ezer kenegdo,” He says that ezer means “helper” on the level of “savior,” not just a “little helper” and “kenegdo” means “equal.” Adam was in a static situation, and Eve decided it was time for a change. So she ate the fruit and saved Adam from a static neutral life that allowed for no joy. So she is/was his savior in that way.

Jared also explains that it was after the Fall that God asked Adam what Eve’s name is. Her name isn’t mentioned before that. It was because of Adam’s eyes being opened after the Fall that Adam recognized that her name is Eve. The name “Eve” means she is the mother of all living. She couldn’t have that name before the Fall because she wasn’t in a position to have children yet. He recognized by calling her Eve that she was now truly the mother of all living, which is a most noble, magnificent position for her to choose and now fulfill with him as her husband and equal partner as parents of the whole human race.

He also explains that when it says that Lucifer came to Eve in the form of a serpent, it doesn’t mean that he was a literal snake, crawling on the floor. Go watch at the 50:30 minute mark to find out what Jared says. If you want a brief synopsis, watch below.

This is all so life-changing! Please watch all these videos with Brother Jared and share the good news as to why we are to look upon our first parents “with joy and not with sorrow,” as it says in Jacob 4:3 of the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

In this verse, Jacob is writing about why he and his forefathers have been writing records/their journals/inspiration from God + keeping the scriptures they got from Laban (same stories as the Genesis stories in the Bible) on plates and passing down the records to their posterity. He says it’s because he wants his posterity to do the following with the records:

“that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt, concerning their first parents.”

“Their first parents” are Adam and Eve. May we all know the truth about Adam and Eve and look upon them with joy and not with sorrow. Amen!